Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-05-19
A Home of Our Own.
Zenas Dane in Good Housekeeping.

/ write this from under my own vine
and fig-tree, from beneath a roof of my
own. I am landed proprietor, tax
payer, the owner of a bit of ground, and
a house in the freshness and beauty of its
first paperfng and painting and polish
ing. Ever since our marriage seven
years ago, my wife and / have longed for
this day to come. We have saved and
'scrimped," and hoped and prayed for it,
and at last it has come to pass. We have
paid out hundreds OF dollars in rent. and
been moved and hustled around from
house to house, and place to place, in the
noraadic manner too common among
young married people in America.
No one can know with what q breath
Of infinite relief | said last week to Mrs.
Dane, at the close of wearisome NOV
ngday, "Well, my dear, thank the fates,
this is our last move"
swell, hope SO, for goodness sake"
said Mrs. Dane, with marked force.
And when our two cherished Brussels
carpets were being cut and slashed into
SO recklessly to fit the parlor and sitting
room, Mrs. Dane said gratefully: ''Well,
it's the last time they'll have to be cut,
for they are down to stay now; that's one
consolation"
The home we are SO happy in is not all
paid for, but we see our way clear to pay
for it in time, and any kind of home is
preferable to life long paying Of rent.
Young married people should start out in
life with the fixed determination of put
ting roof over their heads that they can
call their own; and this is not such very
hard thing to do in these days of loan and
building associations and cheap rates of
interest. My interest and taxes are not
much more than half the amount have
been paying in rents.
It is difficult to define the feeling one
has in home of ones own. There is
something in being LANDED proprietor"
that tones one up wonderfully and adds
dignity and earnestness to life. You lit
orally feel that you are somebody. Life
takes on new meaning and new joys;
you have something to live for and work
for. l actually felt positive pleasure in
paying my taxes yesterday, and felt sorry
for the poor fellows who haven't any taxes
to pay.
I set out some rose bushes last week,
exulting in the thought that they were
mine and neither they nor I were subject
to the within Or the interests of some real
estate agent, who could give US thirty
days notice and then turn Us adrift.
No longer am I a member of the mighty
and miserable army of house hunters.
My rent days are done. I drive nails and
tacks, and hammer and pound when and
where please. When 1 come home from
my Office at night, it is a home indeed to
me.
And when one has children it is more
necessary than ever that there be place
for them that they can call home; place
that they can love and remember as home
throughout all their after lives. hope to
see the children of my 8monhs old baby
playing in this house some day. We have
bought good house because we think we
shall live in this city all our lives, and we
never want to go through the miseries of
another family move.
A home of your own is, insist, the very
best investment q young couple caR make.
1t is something worth saving. and work